And chear his grace with quick and merry words. Queen. If he were dead, what would betide of me? Grey. No other harm than loss of such a lord. Queen. The loss of such a lord includes all harms. Grey. The heavens have bless'd you with a 5 goodly son, To be your comforter, when he is gone. Queen. Ah, he is young; and his minority Is put into the trust of Richard Gloster, A man that loves not me, nor none of you. Riv. Is it concluded, he shall be protector? Queen. It is determin'd1, not concluded yet: But so it must be, if the king miscarry. Whom God preserve better than you would wish! Cannot be quiet scarce a breathing while, But you must trouble him with lewd complaints. Queen. Brother of Glaster, you mistake the The king-of his own royal disposition, [matter: And not provok'd by any suitor else; Aiming, belike, at your interior hatred, That in your outward action shews itself, Against my children, brothers, and myself; 10 Makes him to send; that thereby he may gather The ground of your ill-will, and so remove it. Enter Buckingham, and Stanley. Grey. Here come the lords of Buckingham 15 and Stanley! Buck. Good time of day unto your royal grace! Stanley. God make your majesty joyful as you [of Stanley, have been! Queen. The countess Richmond, good my lord 20 To your good prayer will scarcely say-Amen. Yet, Stanley, notwithstanding she's your wife, And loves not me, be you, good lord, assur'd, I hate not you for her proud arrogance. 25 Stanley. I do beseech you, either not believe The envious slanders of her false accusers; Or, if she be accus'd on true report, Bear with her weakness, which, I think, proceeds From wayward sickness, and no grounded malice. Queen. Saw you the king to-day, my lord of 30 Stanley? Stanley. But now the duke of Buckingham, and I, Are come from visiting his majesty. [lords? Queen. What likelihood of his amendment, Buck. Madam, good hope; his grace speaks 35 chearfully. [with him Queen. God grant him health! Did you confer Buck.Ay, madam: he desires to make atonement Between the duke of Gloster and your brothers, And between them and my lord chamberlain; And sent to warn them to his royal presence. Queen. 'Would all were well!-But that will never be! 2 I fear, our happiness is at the height. Enter Gloster, Hastings, and Dorset. Glo. They do me wrong, and I will not endure Who are they, that complain unto the king? [it:That I, forsooth, am stern, and love thein not? By holy Paul, they love his grace but lightly, That fill his ears with such dissentious rumours. Because I cannot flatter, and speak fair, Smile in men's faces, smooth, deceive, and cog, Duck with French nods and apish courtesy, I must be held a rancorous enemy. Cannot a plain man live, and think no harm, But thus his simple truth must be abus'd By silken, sly, insinuating Jacks? [grace Glo. I cannot tell:-The world is grown so bad, Queen. Come, come, we know your meaning, You envy my advancement, and my friends: Glo. Meantime, God grants that we have need Our brother is imprison'd by your means, Held in contempt; while great promotions [noble. That scarce, some two days since, were worth a Queen. By Him, that rais'd me to this careful From that contented hap which I enjoy'd, [height I never did incense his majesty Against the duke of Clarence, but have been An earnest advocate to plead for him. My lord, you do me shameful injury, Falsely to draw me in these vile suspects. Glo. You may deny that you were not the cause Of my lord Hastings' late imprisonment. Riv. She may, my lord; for- [not so? Glo. She may, lord Rivers?-why, who knows She may do more, sir, than denying that: She may help you to many fair preferments; 40 And then deny her aiding hand therein, And laythose honours on your high desert. [she What may she not? She may, ay, marry, may Riv. What, marry, may she? 45 Glo. What, marry, may she? marry with a king, A batchelor, a handsome stripling too: I wis, your grandam had a worser match. Queen. My lord of Gloster, I have too long borne Your blunt upbraidings, and your bitter scoffs By heaven, I will acquaint his majesty 50Of those gross taunts I often have endur'd. I'd rather be a country servant-maid, Than a great queen, with this conditionTo be so baited, scorn'd, and stormed at: Small joy have I in being England's queen. Enter Queen Margaret, behind. 2. Mar. And lessen'd be that small, God, Ł beseech thee! 55 Grey. To whom in all this presence speaks your Glo. To thee, that hast nor honesty, nor grace. When have I injur'd thee? when done thee wrong? 60 Qr thee?-or thee?-or any of your faction? A plague upon you all! His royal grace, 'Determin'd signifies the final conclusion of the of some act consequent on the final judgement. Thy honour, state, and seat, is due to me. [king? I dare adventure to be sent to the Tower. will: concluded, what cannot be altered by reason 2 i. e. to summon them. Tis time to speak, my pains' are quite forgot. Thou kill'dst my husband Henry in the Tower, 3 To royalize his blood, I spilt mine own. And all the pleasures you usurp, are mine. Glo. The curse my noble father laid on thee,~When thou didst crown his warlike brows with paper, And with thy scorns drew'st rivers from his eyes; And then, to dry them, gav'st the duke a clout, Steep'd in the faultless blood of pretty Rutland ;His curses, then from bitterness of soul Denounc'd against thee, are all fallen upon thee; 10 And God, not we, hath plagu'd thy bloody deed. Queen. So just is God, to right the innocent. Hast. O,'twas the foulest deed, to slay that babe, And the most merciless, that e'er was heard of. Riv. Tyrants themselves wept when it was reported. 2. far. Ay, and much better blood than his or thine. [Grey, Glo. In all which time, you, and your husband Were factious for the house of Lancaster;And, Rivers, so were you:-Was not your husband 15 In Margaret's battle at Saint Alban's slain? Let me put in your minds, if you forget, What you have been ere now, and what you are; Withal, what I have been, and what I am. [art. 2. Mar. A murd'rous villain, and so still thou 20 Glo. Poor Clarence did forsake his father Warwick, [don! Ay, and forswore himself,-Which Jesu par- Glo. To fight on Edward's party, for the crown; 25 I am too childish-foolish for this world. [world, see it. Dors. No man but prophesy'd revenge for it. curses! Though not by war, by surfeit die your king, 2.Mar. Hie thee to hell for shame, and leave this 30 As ours by murder, to make him a king! Thou cacodæmon! there thy kingdom is. Ric. My lord of Gloster, in those busy days, Glo. If I should be?--I had rather be a pedlar: Queen. As little joy, my lord, as you suppose 4 Edward, thy son, that now is prince of Wales, Deck'd in thy rights, as thou art stall'd in mine! 43 2. Mar. A little joy enjoys the queen thereof; Glo. Wert thou not banished, on pain of death? Than death can yield me here by my abode. 55 Die neither mother, wife, nor England's queen!- Glo. Have done thy charm, thou hateful wi- On thee, the troubler of the poor world's peace! The worm of conscience still be-gnaw thy soul! Thy friends suspect for traitors while thou liv'st, And take deep traitors for thy dearest friends! No sleep close up that deadly eye of thine, Unless it be while some tormenting dream 60.Affrights thee with a hell of ugly devils! 1i. e. my labours. 2 Out is an interjection of abhorrence or contempt, frequent in the mouths of the common people of the North. 3i. e. to make royal. 4 i. e. pillaged. 'Gentle in this place implies high-born. An opposition is meant between that and villain, which means at once a wicked and a low-born wretch. Alluding to his luxurious life. Thou 5 6 Hath in eternal darkness folded up. [rity. Buck. Peace, peace, for shame, if not for cha2. Mar. Urge neither charity nor shame to me; Uncharitably with me have you dealt, And shamefully by you my hopes are butcher'd. My charity is outrage, life iny shame,— 10 And in my shame still live my sorrow's rage! Buck. Have done, have done. [hand, 2. Mar. O princely Buckingham, I'll kiss thy In sign of league and amity with thee: Now fair befal thee, and thy noble house! 15 Thy garments are not spotted with our blood, Nor thou within the compass of my curse. 2. Mar. Poor painted queen, vain flourish of my Why strew'st thou sugar on that bottled' spider, 20 Whose deadly web ensnareth thee about? Fool, fool! thou whett'st a knife to kill thyself. The day will come, that thou shalt wish for me To help thee curse this pois'nous hunch-back'd toad. [curse: 25 Hast. False-boding woman, end thy frantick Lest, to thy harm, thou move our patience. 2. Mar. Foul shame upon you! you have all 4 Buck. Nor no one here; for curses never pass Gio. What doth she say, my lord of Bucking- And soothe the devil that I warn thee from? I Queen. I never did her any, to my knowledge. Glo. Yet you have all the vantage of her wrong. was too hot to do some body good, 7 That is too cold in thinking of it now. 2 The common people in Scotland have still an aversion to those who have any natural defect or redundancy, as thinking them mark'd out for mischief. She calls him hog, as an appellation more contemptuous than boar, as he is elsewhere termed from his ensigns armorial. The expression is strong and noble, and alludes to the ancient custom of masters branding their profligate slaves: by which it is insinuated, that his mishapen person was the mark that nature had set upon him to stigmatize his ill conditions. Intimating that much of his honour was torn away. A spider is called bottled, because, unlike other insects, he has a middle slender, and a belly protuberant. Rich. ard's form and venom make her liken him to a spider. An aiery is a hawk's or an eagle's nest 7 Mr. Pope says, that a frank is an old English word for a hog-stye, and that 'tis possible he uses this metaphor to Clarence, in allusion to the crest of the family of York, which was a boar. Mr. Steevens, however, asserts, that a frank was not a common hog-stye, but the pen in which those hogs were confined of whom brawn was to be made. i. e. harm, mischief. Enter Riv. Madam, we will attend your grace, [Exeunt all but Gloster. Glo. I do the wrong, and first begin to brawl. But soft, here come my executioners. 1 Mur. We are, my lord; and come to have And, in my company, my brother Gloster: 5 And cited up a thousand heavy times, O Lord! methought what pain it was to drown! All scatter'd in the bottom of the sea. 20 Some lay in dead men's skulls; and, in those holes, That we may be admitted where he is. [me: Talkers are no good doers; be assur'd, I like you, lads-about your business straight; 1 Mur. We will, my noble lord. SCENE IV. An Apartment in the Tower. Enter Clarence, and Brakenbury. [Excunt. Clar. Methought, I had; and often did I strive Bruk. Awak'd you not with this sore agony? Clar. O, no, my dream was lengthen'd after life; 350, then began the tempest to my soul! I pass'd, methought, the melancholy flood, 55 Such hideous cries, that, with the very noise, That now give evidence against my soul,- Probably, a proverbial expression.. i. e, not an infidel. is the same as changing sides. Tt i. e. invaluable. • Fleeting ut 5 But thou wilt be aveng'd on my misdeeds, They often feel a world of rcstless cares1: 1 Murd. Ho! who's here? 1 Murd. Where's thy conscience now? 2 Murd. In the duke of Gloster's purse. 1 Murd. When he opens his purse to give us our reward, thy conscience flies out. 2 Murd. 'Tis no matter; let it go; there's few, or none, will entertain it. 1 Murd. What, if it come to thee again? 2 Murd. I'll not meddle with it, it is a dangerous thing, it makes a man a coward; a man cannot steal, but it accuseth him; a man cannot swear, but it checks him; a man cannot lie with his neighbour's wife, but it detects him: 'Tis a blushing shame-fac'd spirit, that mutinies in a man's bosom; it fills one full of obstacles: it made me once 15 restore a purse of gold, that by chance I found it beggars any man that keeps it: it is turn'd out of all towns and cities for a dangerous thing; and every man, that means to live well, endeavours to trust to himself, and live without it. 2 Murd. I would speak with Clarence, and 120 came hither on my legs. Brak. What, so brief? [dious: 1 Murd. O, sir, 'tis better to be brief, than teShew him our commission, talk no more. Brak. I am, in this, commanded to deliver 1 Murd. You may, sir, 'tis a point of wisdom: 25 1 Murd. 'Zounds, it is even now at my elbow, persuading me not to kill the duke. 2 Murd. Take the devil in thy mind, and be lieve him not: he would insinuate with thee, but to make thee sigh. 1 Murd. I am strong fram'd, he cannot prevail with me. 2 Murd. Spoke like a tall 2 fellow, that respects his reputation. Come, shall we fall to work? 1 Murd. Take him over the costard' with the 30 hilts of thy sword, and then throw him into the malmsey-butt, in the next room. 2 Murd. What, shall we stab him as he sleeps? 1 Murd. No; he'll say, 'twas done cowardly,|35| when he wakes. 2 Murd. When he wakes! why, fool, he shall never wake until the great judgement-day. 1 Murd. Why, then he'll say, we stabb'd him sleeping. 2 Murd. The urging of that word, judgement, hath bred a kind of remorse in me. 1 Murd. What? art thou afraid? 40 2 Murd. Not to kill him, having a warrant for it; but to be damn'd for killing him, from the 45 which no warrant can defend me. 1 Murd. I thought, thou had'st been resolute. 2 Murd. So I am, to let him live. 1 Murd. I'll back to the duke of Gloster, and tell him so. 2 Murd. Nay, I pr'ythee, stay a little: I hope, this compassionate humour of mine will change it was wont to hold me but while one would tell twenty. 1 Murd. How dost thou feel thyself now? 2 Murd. 'Faith, some certain dregs of conscience are yet within me. 1 Murd. Remember our reward, when the deed's done. [ward. 2 Murd. O excellent device! and make a sop of him. 1 Murd. Soft! he wakes. 2 Murd. Strike. 4 1 Murd. No, we'll reason with him. of wine. [anon. 1 Murd. You shall have wine enough, my lord, Clar. In God's name, what art thou? 1 Murd. A man, as you are. Clar. But not, as I am, royal. 1 Murd. Nor you, as we are, loyal. Clar. Thy voice is thunder, but thy looks arehumble. 1 Murd. My voice is now the king's, my looks mine owif. [speak! Clar. How darkly, and how deadly dost thou Your eyes do menace me: why look you pale? 50 Who sent you hither? Wherefore do you come ? 2 Murd. To, to, to Clar. To murder me? Clar. You scarcely have the hearts to tell me so 55 And therefore cannot have the hearts to do it. Wherein, my friends, have I offended you? 1Murd. Offended us you have not, but the king. Clar. I shall be reconcil'd to him again. 2 Murd. Never, my lord; therefore prepare 2 Murd. Come, he dies; I had forgot the re-/60 to die. Meaning, they often suffer real miseries for imaginary and unreal gratifications. 2 Tall, in old English, means stout, daring, fearless, and strong. ple shap'd like a man's head. Le. we'll talk. i. e. the head, a name adopted from an ap Clar |